Top Ten Tuesday - Ten Free Tales of Terror to Get You in the Halloween Spirit

 

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

It's just past Tuesday (midnight), but I really wanted to participate in this week's Top Ten. The topic this week is scary tales to get you in the Halloween spirit. I've decided to list tales of horror that are available as free Kindle editions. I have no idea how long they will be offered for free, so grab the ones you're interested in ASAP. Make sure the price still says $0.00 before you click to order.

1. Darkhouse (Experiment in Terror #1) by Karina Halle

With all the vampire, werewolf and faerie books out there, it's easy to become numb to all things supernatural. The antidote? Darkhouse introduces two real and unforgettable characters, Perry Palomino & Dex Foray, amateur ghost hunters who are "attractive, relatable and oddly heroic," "flawed but loveable," "slightly crazy" and just the most endearing pair to ever tackle the paranormal...just don't call them normal. Darkhouse is a thrilling and sexy new take on concepts like Supernatural and The X-Files, bringing a breath of fresh air to a genre that has been inundated with the dead.

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"There's always been some­thing a bit off about Perry Palomino. Though she's been deal­ing with a quarter-life cri­sis and post-college syn­drome like any other twen­tysome­thing, she's still not what you would call "ordi­nary." For one thing, there's her past which she likes to pre­tend never hap­pened, and then there's the fact that she sees ghosts. Luck­ily for her, that all comes in handy when she stum­bles across Dex Foray, an eccen­tric pro­ducer for an upcom­ing web­cast on ghost hunters. Even though the show's bud­get is non-existent and Dex him­self is a mad­den­ing enigma, Perry is instantly drawn into a world that both threat­ens her life and seduces her with a sense of impor­tance. Her uncle's haunted light­house pro­vides the per­fect cat­a­lyst and back­drop for a hor­rific mys­tery that unrav­els the threads of Perry's frag­ile san­ity and causes her to fall for a man, who, like the most dan­ger­ous of ghosts, may not be all that he seems."

 Rated 16+ for language and gore

2.  Scary Mary by S.A. Hunter

Mary just wants to be left alone, but the cheerleaders, jocks, and ghosts won't stop harrassing her. When new student Cyrus starts school, he tries to befriend her. That's a rare thing for the school freak, but her unusual abilities put a rift in their budding friendship when she has to tell him that his home is haunted and not by Casper, the friendly ghost.

3.  The Deepest Cut (a MacKinnon Curse novel, Book 1) by J.A. Templeton

Sixteen-year-old Riley Williams has been able to see ghosts since the car crash that took her mother's life and shattered her family. Guilt-ridden over the belief that she's somehow responsible for her mom's death, Riley is desperate to see her mother's elusive spirit to gain her forgiveness.

When her father moves the family to Scotland so they can all start over, Riley believes her life couldn't get worse--that is until the ghost of nineteen-year-old Ian MacKinnon catches her purposely cutting herself. An uneasy truce quickly turns into friendship, and soon Riley's falling hard for Ian.

Riley believes her gift could help Ian end the curse that has kept him tied to the land for centuries, but that would mean letting him go forever and she's not sure she is strong enough to do that. As if her life wasn't complicated enough, the malevolent spirit of the woman who killed Ian returns and she'll stop at nothing to keep Riley from helping Ian find eternal peace.

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Please note:  THE DEEPEST CUT is a mature YA paranormal romance. Due to strong language, mention of cutting, alcohol and drug use, it is not recommended for younger teens.

4. Rory's Story: journey to Vortex Canyon by Ryan Seek

Do the Spirits Speak to You?

Nineteen-year-old Rory Fisher is all but orphaned and alone in the world. Her only remaining loved one is her Yavapai grandfather, a once proud Indian, who is stricken with a diseased mind and confined to a nursing home in Twin Falls, Idaho.

In a rare moment of clarity, the old Yavapai suddenly informs his granddaughter that the Spirits have spoken to him and the message is clear. She must leave immediately, on this very day, back to the land of his people in the red-walled canyons of Arizona.

The true purpose of the journey remains a mystery as Rory embarks on her quest to a place called Vortex Canyon, located in the wilderness just north of Sedona. She travels with only the promise of her grandfather; the promise that his Spirits will guide and protect her.
However, will the Spirits speak to Rory, a Caucasian girl adopted by an Indian family, and not of true Yavapai blood? Was the training her grandfather gave her as a child enough to reach out to the Spirit World in adulthood?

Only Rory's Story will tell...

5. Free Five by Paul D. Dail

Five Flash Fiction horror pieces, all under 1000 words. Each piece also includes a brief afterword from the author with a bit of background on where he got the idea for the story. A little insight into the life and mind of a horror writer.

Approx. 7000 words (roughly 28 pages)

Includes:
- "The Professional Crier"
The tears of high school outcast Penny Circe can bring back the dead. At least temporarily.

- "I Spy With My Little Eye"
Anthony Monsano has gone through hell to finally find himself in possession of the round box. The question is, what’s inside?

- "Run, Rabbit. Run."
Pete Cantrell hates jackrabbits. Unfortunately, his home is surrounded by them. And something else as well.

- "The Death He Expected"
A group of boys on a midnight, full moon trip to an Indian burial site get more than just a practical joke.

- "Another Oldie But Goodie"
Retirement home resident Margaret Daniels is hearing music that no one else can hear, a song she hasn’t heard in almost 50 years.

6. Shadows (Feary Tales: Vomit 1) by Edwin A. Dark

 The most innocent in Junebug, Oklahoma, are the targets of an evil unseen by all except for one man--he alone knows what it is and how to stop it.

When he tries to stop the horrifying and grisly attack on Junebug's children, Geoff Lindmann becomes the target of the evil entity, which feeds off of a dark secret from Lindmann's own childhood, a secret that has lain dormant for nearly 30 years--a shadowy secret that now rises to devour Lindmann's sanity and his soul.

A psychological horror thriller that will chill your bones and have you looking over your shoulder for the shadows haunting you.

"Shadows" jerks readers' senses like a roller coaster gone wild and smashes them into a concrete barrier at the end.

7. The Moonlight in Genevieve's Eyes and Other Tales of Horror by D. Krauss

Real vampires. Tasteful dismemberments. And delightful shivers, from ten old-fashioned horror stories:

a. The Moonlight in Genevieve's Eyes: unrequited love. Tragic. Just tragic.
b. Choice: second chances are rare. Especially when you work for a vampire.
c. The Flowers in Mr. Williams' Garden: neighborhood watch, ghost style.
d. Cistern: zombies are horrible, until they hire you.
e. The Elvish Woman: lovers who steal your soul. Literally.
f. The Trumpet Inside the Warehouse: no one can hear you scream.
g. King of the Bears: be victorious, or be dinner.
h. Angel Eyes: man's best friend, when you forget your cross and garlic.
i. The Absence of Land: sell the farm, pay the consequences.
j. Face to Face: Mother's day.

8. Dead Religion by David Beers

A psychological thriller unlike anything you've ever read.

A hotel explodes in Mexico City, killing thousands.

All evidence points to one American citizen, Alex Valdez.

The FBI wants him, or at the least, to understand what happened in Mexico before the government down there can.

Agent James Allison travels to Mexico to find Valdez, or find out about him.
What he can't know, what the FBI doesn't understand, is Valdez's past.

Alex Valdez's parents gave him a blood-rite to unleash an ancient Aztec 'God'--this rite led a small boy to a haunted man. One that doesn't know whether this 'God' exists, and if It does, is It a demon? A man that cannot tell reality from dreams with a wife who has seen her husband commit atrocities to his own body.

Dead Religion follows both Alex Valdez in the last days before the hotel's collapse and James Allison as he searches for the truth behind the fall. Valdez believes he knows how to stop the Demon, and James only understands he wants to make it home alive to see his brother.

In a world where miracles and Gods have been pushed to a past age, Dead Religion walks the fine line between insanity and reality, in which Agent Allison must uncover the facts of the terrific loss of life in Mexico City before the same torments find their way into his own life.

9.  The Village of Dead Souls by Michael G. Wallace

Killed in battle, the ancient Athenian, Prometheus, awakes inside a body that is not his, in a future world unfamiliar to him. Trapped in modern day Denver, during the annual Zombie Pub Crawl, he is surrounded by humans with their strange language of moans, and hisses. Joined by a growing number of living dead, the new arrival helps them organize into a well-organized army during the zombie uprising. Only they are not here to destroy the living, they have come to save them.
The future of the human race relies on the necromantic secrets inside the shadows of the Village of Dead Souls.

10. Meme: A Zombie Novella by Marcus Caine

This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang but with a tweet, a text, a facebook status update.

As society crumbles around them a brain damaged soldier fights to protect a group of mental patients who may now be the sanest people left on Earth.

A survival horror novella - 36,943 words

Happy reading!
Talk to you soon,
Angela